After the plane took off, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue both chose to sleep, both of them were too tired, and they also drank some wine, so they wanted to sleep even more. As a result, the two really fell asleep on the bumpy plane, and it was not until a violent shock that the two woke up from their sleep.

"We're in Guam?" Tan Renhao touched his head, which was a little swollen and painful, and asked Hao Dongjue, who got up first.

"No, it seems to be landing halfway to refuel, it's not dawn yet, and I haven't arrived in Guam so soon." Hao Dongjue looked outside the boat, "It should be Lae, and the next time I land, I will go to Guam." ”

Tan Renhao also got up. "Really fast, flying for a few hours?"

"It should be more than six hours, this plane is not fast." Hao Dongjue went to get two bottles of beer, "In other words, it will take us more than seven hours to get to Guam, and it should be dawn at that time, how about it, sleep comfortably, right?" ”

"If you have a sore back, it seems that you shouldn't drink those glasses of wine." Tan Renhao took the beer, and he felt smoke coming out of his throat.

"There's nothing good about being free, but it's not like you're greedy."

"You're pretty much the same." Tan Renhao shook his head and didn't continue to play with Hao Dongjue, "Where are those documents that Yan Guozhong gave us?" ”

"Put it in the back, you see it now?"

"I can't sleep anyway, it won't take long for the plane to refuel, right?"

"Half an hour at most, but we'll have to be on the plane for a few hours." Hao Dongjue went to take the stack of documents, "I can't sleep anyway, let's pass the time." ”

Soon, the plane was refueled and took off again and left the airport. Several fighters took off after the transport plane, and in fact there was no need for fighter escort to fly at night. At least in the vicinity of this, there will be no American night fighters. Moreover, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue's itinerary was arranged temporarily, unless the Yankees could predict the future. Otherwise, fighter jets would not have been sent to intercept the transport plane carrying two generals in the airspace outside the combat radius.

The two were not worried about any accidents, and after the plane was changed to level flight, the two read the documents separately. Yan Guozhong gave the two of them several documents. There is a summary report of the Southwest Pacific Theater, which mainly involves the combat operations of several task forces, which looks like it was written by Lei Shaoqing, but Yan Guozhong must have read it carefully and revised it. There is a summary report of the battles in the Pacific theater of operations. It is also mainly the combat operations of the Fourth Task Force during this period, which focuses on the combat operation with the Fifth Fleet, and also devotes a lot of space to mentioning the sinking of the US aircraft carrier "Shangri-La" by the submarine No. 542. There are also a number of technical reports. Relatively speaking, he was more concerned about the situation in the Central Pacific and wanted to learn more about the situation before arriving at Guam, so that he could devote himself to new work in a timely manner.

Hao Dongjue is completely different from Tan Renhao, he is not the kind of person who will have the patience to read the combat reports of other troops, because he does not even have the patience to write battle reports. He is more concerned with those novelty technologies, therefore. The first thing he picked up was a technical report.

Tan Renhao looked at it very carefully, and from this detailed report, Tan Renhao seemed to have seen the battle between the Fourth Task Force and the Fifth Fleet with his own eyes. Tan Renhao also regretted that Huang Xiaotian missed the opportunity in the Marshall Islands, if he had seized the opportunity at that time, perhaps the Fifth Fleet would have been defeated long ago. In addition, if Huang Xiaotian is more decisive when intercepting the US landing fleet. Then the result will be different. These two opportunities can only be regretted in anyone's opinion, but Tan Renhao also knows very well that in the same situation, even if he has the courage to take the initiative to attack, Spruance will not use the same method as the fourth task force to deal with the first task force, so the result is probably not much better.

From beginning to end, Huang Xiaotian worked towards the ultimate goal of the campaign, and has been fighting the Fifth Fleet in the most effective way. The two opportunities he missed were only because he was afraid of falling into the trap set by Spruance. Caused by excessive caution. In fact, the tactical arrangements adopted in the final decisive battle between the Fourth Task Force and the Fifth Fleet. This principle has also been observed. This is understandable, and Tan Renhao will also make the same arrangement, no matter from the situation at the time or from the perspective of long-term planning, first ensuring that the Fifth Fleet loses its air combat capability, this is the most crucial, and only when it is determined that it has the ability to continue to strike, then strive to blow up and sink the opponent's aircraft carrier. Therefore, Huang Xiaotian adopted a relatively accurate tactical arrangement, and in the end, the Fourth Task Force suffered heavy losses, which was a matter of strength, not a matter of tactical arrangement and command of the commander.

Tan Renhao did not attach much importance to the battle of the escort warships of the two sides, and he had never liked artillery battles. However, he only paid special attention to two points, one was the sneak attack of the 542 submarine, and the other was the personal evaluation of Yan Yulong, chief of staff of the Fourth Task Force, drafted by Liao Hanxiang, attached to the combat report.

Probably because his brother-in-law Liao Hongpeng is the most famous submarine captain in the empire, Tan Renhao still attaches more importance to submarines, at least in his opinion, submarines, like aviation, are new arms, and they have broken the old way of fighting a decisive battle in the fleet. Wen Haomao, the captain of No. 542, left a deep impression on him, especially after knowing that there were only eight torpedoes on the boat at that time, and that he had completed the combat operation of breaking diplomatic relations, and that he had encountered the Fifth Fleet on the way back, Tan Renhao felt that this major officer should be given priority training. As for the evaluation Yan Yulong received, Tan Renhao felt that it was not too much. At that time, Tan Renhao didn't know that Yan Yulong was the grandson of Marshal Yan Dingyu, and if he knew, he would definitely be even more surprised.

"Renhao, look at this."

"What's that?" Tan Renhao looked at Hao Dongjue, and then took a document handed over by Hao Dongjue.

"Check it out, you're going to be interested."

Tan Renhao frowned, then glanced at the title of the document.

"Remember what we used to say about the P-51D?"

Tan Renhao nodded, he would not forget the advanced US shore-based fighter, to be precise, the most advanced ground fighter of the US Army Air Corps. And this fighter almost broke the predominance of the Imperial Naval Aviation in the Pacific Ocean, if it were not for the rapid production of the "Golden Eagle". I'm afraid that the Imperial naval aviation, which relied on the "Falcon" fighters, would have been defeated long ago.

The performance of the initial model of the P-51 was not very good, and the use of a 1150-horsepower engine made the maximum speed of this fighter weighing just over three tons slightly slower than that of the "Falcon". You can only get about 320 knots. But this was also the fastest fighter of the US military in the Pacific Ocean at that time, and its agility surpassed that of the "Falcon". Perhaps its only regret is that it cannot be deployed on aircraft carriers, the basic design of which is for army aviation. And it is deployed only on ground airfields.

Relatively speaking, at the time, the P-51 was far more of a threat than the initial F4U, and was the most formidable opponent of the Imperial Naval Air Force's fighters. Especially in the South-West Pacific, it was the appearance of the P-51 that forced the Imperial Naval Aviation to strive for better fighters. Gave birth to the "Golden Eagle". In addition to being fast and particularly agile, this fighter has a long enough range, with a maximum range of 3,700 kilometers, and can almost fly directly from New Zealand to Australia. And the range of the "Falcon" is less than half of it! To add insult to injury, the P-51 could carry two 1,000-pound aerial bombs, which in many cases were used as bombers. In addition, it is capable of carrying rockets, which poses a great threat to small warships on the sea, as well as armored vehicles on the ground. And this fighter was put into combat for almost a year. Enough for the Imperial Naval Aviation. If it weren't for the better pilots of the Imperial Naval Aviation, I'm afraid Yan Guozhong would have been unable to attack Australia so early.

The P-51D was the main modification of the P-51, with a more powerful engine with a power of more than 1700 horsepower, while the body mechanism was strengthened, an integral bubble glass cover was used, and an armored cockpit was used. With technologies such as self-closing fuel tanks, its maximum take-off weight has also increased to more than 5 tons. The biggest feature of the machine is its speed. With a speed of more than 380 knots, it was the fastest fighter in the world at that time. The ultimate speed of the "Falcon" can reach 325 knots, which is quite good, and the "Golden Eagle" can fly up to 350 knots. Obviously, the "Golden Eagle", which had only been in service for a short time, was already lagging behind in front of the P-51D. Fortunately, the P-51D is still a fighter of the US Army Air Corps and cannot be deployed on aircraft carriers. The problem was that the Imperial Naval Aviation also had to face the challenge of the US Army Aviation, if it weren't for the fact that the P-51D only began to equip troops in large quantities in mid-26. And if it had been initially deployed to the United Kingdom, I am afraid that the Imperial Naval Aviation would have to face a more formidable opponent in the Pacific!

Then. The number of P-51Ds deployed by the US military in Australia is quite limited, and the quality of the pilots is very problematic, so it has not been able to play much role on the battlefield, and the overall disadvantage of the US military cannot be compensated by a limited number of advanced fighters. Relatively speaking, what the US military needs is more combat aircraft, not better combat aircraft, and without quantity as a basis, it is difficult for quality to be effective on the battlefield. But it was the appearance of the P-51D that made the Imperial Navy immediately decide to acquire a more advanced fighter as soon as possible, or to speed up the development of the next advanced fighter.

Tan Renhao didn't open the papers, he really can't show much interest now, to put it bluntly, he is more concerned about the war situation in the Central Pacific.

"If this new fighter can be put into service, then we will definitely have the best fighter in the world. When the time comes, the Yankees will not dare to laugh at the bulkiness of our fighters, and they will not be able to fly fast. Hao Dongjue seemed very interested, he said as he lit a cigarette, not noticing that the cabin was very cramped. We really should catch up with the world's advanced level in terms of speed. Two years ago, the Army Aviation first put forward the design idea of speed first, I don't know what the naval aviation, as well as those in the equipment technical office, think. The Navy needs a tougher fighter, but don't give up on speed. By the way, did you know that the US Navy has been equipped with a new F4U? ”

Tan Renhao nodded and did not answer Hao Dongjue's words.

"I heard that the speed of this fighter is faster than that of the P-51D, if it weren't for the fact that several major problems have not been solved for the time being, so it cannot be deployed to the aircraft carrier, maybe the US aircraft carrier will not be F6F, but all this new F4U." Hao Dongjue's expression was very sad and indignant. "If the carrier-based fighters of the US Navy fly faster than our fighters by then, I am afraid that the officers of the equipment technical office will have a headache."

"We demand more from the fighter than just performance." Tan Renhao couldn't help it, "It's very troublesome to put a new fighter into production, what if the output can't come up?" In addition, the performance of the "Golden Eagle" is not completely backward, at least not now, and there is no need to immediately replace it with a new fighter. ”

"I know, you're talking about quantity, we do have a quantitative advantage, but while maintaining a quantitative advantage, why can't we strive for a qualitative advantage?"

Tan Renhao shook his head. "It's not something that can be done verbally or twice, and even if the speed goes up, what if the price is too expensive to produce in large quantities? What's the point of maintenance if it's too complicated and results in low uptime? Also, the operation is too complicated, and if our pilots can't adapt to it, will that affect the combat effectiveness? ”

Hao Dongjue also shook his head, obviously no, he completely agreed with Tan Renhao's point of view.

"You should have heard that the United States has provided Russia with a lot of fighter jets, more than a dozen models, and almost everything it can give to Russia, but what is the result? Russian pilots still prefer the 'La' and 'MiG' fighters produced in their own country to the American ones. Could it be that American fighter jets are not advanced enough? Obviously not, as far as we know, Russian fighters are very rough, some even still use steel as structural materials, and their processing technology is also very poor, but actual combat has proved that these Russian-made fighters are more suitable for the harsh environment on the Russian battlefield, but the problem of exquisite American fighters continues. This illustrates the problem that there are different situations on different battlefields, first of all, to be able to adapt to the requirements of the battlefield, and secondly, to pursue better performance. ”

"But the two can also be combined."

Tan Renhao sighed, he really didn't know what to tell Hao Dongjue.

"Look at this document and you'll know." Hao Dongjue laughed.

Tan Renhao picked up the document and opened it a little reluctantly, he only hoped that he would not be disappointed.